


The curse of the Karaoke

by RedTears



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 23:32:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3788443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedTears/pseuds/RedTears
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>http://toomanyfuckscrusader.tumblr.com/post/67855407252/heroes-of-olympus-the-curse-of-the-karaoke</p><p>This is not my story</p><p>{I have a request, can someone write another bit where their doing duets and Leo's doing on with Nico}</p>
            </blockquote>





	The curse of the Karaoke

Heroes of olympus: the curse of the karaoke machine

Just a little crack thing to make up for the horrible crushing sadness I laid on y'all yesterday. But yeah, this started out as a little bitty head cannon then got huge and cracktastic. Enjoy.

___________________________________________________________

Nico was absolutely done with all of them. Every single one of the seven were black listed in his mind. If he never talked to them again, it would be too soon.

“It’s just Karaoke, don’t be such a killjoy.” Leo smiled at him.

“Yeah,” Percy-who was leaning on the mechanic’s head-agreed, “You might even have fun.”

“Do I look like I would enjoy publically singing to you?” Nico glared at them both.

“No.” Jason answered, walking in, “Right now you don’t look like you enjoy anything. Which is why you should do this.”

“I don’t understand what the benefit of this could possibly be.”

Piper peeked around Jason, “Well, you get to bond with your friends and act silly and get to know each other. No one here would make fun of you Nico.”

“Except me, but I’m worse than a cat in a garbage disposal so you can make fun of me back.” Leo interjected.

“Yeah.” Percy ruffled his hair, “And who doesn’t love making fun of Leo.”

“Watch it Low Tide.” Leo smiled, “I somehow doubt you’re a Sinatra yourself.”

Percy shrugged, “I can sing just fine. Whales seem to really like it.”

Nico tried valiantly to keep the smile from his face but failed. So instead he hid it by turning his face to the side and covering it with his hand.

“Come on, please?” Piper put on her big puppy dog eyes but Nico was not in the least bit swayed.

“What are we talking about?” Annabeth asked as she, Hazel, and Frank wandered into Percy’s cabin. They had several bags of complementary contraband under their arms, via the Stoll brothers. It was a sort of ‘Hey thanks for saving the world, welcome back’ present.

“We’re trying to convince Mr. I’m-Too-Punk-Rock-For-This to do Karaoke with us.” Piper answered.

“We’re doing Karaoke?” Frank’s brow furrowed, “Uh, guys I kinda sing like an ox giving birth.”

“It’s okay, Percy sings in whale calls.” Annabeth patted him on the shoulder.

“Dude, I thought you were kidding!” Leo laughed.

Percy pulled the straightest face Nico had ever seen on him, “I don’t kid.”

In three seconds the two jokesters were on the ground laughing.

“You guys are idiots.” Jason shook his head even though he was smiling.

“Come on Nico, it’ll be fun.” Hazel encouraged.

“Yeah, you can’t be worse than an ox and a whale.” Frank gave him a shaky smile as Percy and Leo laughed louder.

“Fine.” Nico agreed after a long pause, “But I’m not singing anything stupid.”

*

The first song they picked was a group song to get everyone comfortable.

“Bohemian Rhapsody.” Percy said with a smug smile, “The perfect opener.”

“What about Hazel and Nico, I doubt they know the lyri—” Leo started.

‘Mama, just killed a man.’ Hazel sung in a voice as high and sweet as a bird, ‘Put a gun against his head’

“Well, uh, that answers that.” Leo blinked, “When did you learn that?”

“Frank taught me.” Hazel blushed faintly, “Everyone’s got to know Queen, right?”

Annabeth gave them both an approving smile.

“What about you, Nico?” Jason asked.

“Yeah,” Nico muttered, “I know the words.”

“Alright then, let’s do this.” Percy grinned wildly, pressing the play button on Leo’s iPod.

It wasn’t really Karaoke since the song still had the lyrics, but that wasn’t the point. As soon as the words started the seven turned dramatically to anyone near them and began singing as loudly as they could. Percy was completely off key, Leo squeaked like a T-kettle, Hazel’s voice was pretty and sweet, Frank did in fact sound like a birthing bovine, Annabeth wasn’t bad but she wasn’t really good either, Piper sounded like Christina Aguilera, and Jason’s voice was a low tenor that almost made up for the horrible sounds coming from the other three guys. Almost.

And then there was Nico singing so softly he couldn’t possibly be heard.

As the song progressed the seven got more dramatic, and each of them picked a harmony that they probably shouldn’t have. It sounded like a dishwasher being used to house weasels but Nico had to admit it was just a tiny bit fun.

Then the song changed tempos and the seven exchanged looks during the instrumental. It looked almost as if they were…

Suddenly Percy was the only one ‘singing’ as he mimed playing piano.

‘I see a little silhouette-o of a man.’

The others supplied the back-ups as Jason smiled a genuine, cheerful smile and sang in his most commanding voice, ‘Thunder bolt and lightning, very very frightening me!’

Each of the other six pretended to cringe away from him as he sung.

‘Galileo!’ Came Leo’s high voice.

‘Galileo.’ Frank’s deep voice replied.

‘Galileo!’ Hazel and Leo replied.

‘Galileo.’ Frank and Piper rebutted.

The rest folded in with various bad harmonies. And so they took turns ridiculously singing in a dramatic fashion that was probably only funny in the moment.

‘Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me!’

Nico was absolutely positive that the high note Leo Valdez hit was not a sound a human male should have been able to make. Or any creature should. But he did, with Jason and Frank’s low voices acting as a foil.

And then came the head-banging. Every single one of them, with absolute abandon as if they were at a rock show. Nico could hardly believe it, it was almost as if they’d planned it. He could also hardly contain the smile on his face.

‘So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye.’ Annabeth sung to Percy as they came up from the group head-bang.

‘So you think you can love me and leave me to die?’ Percy sang back with that dumb smile.

‘Ooooh, baby.’ They sung together, ‘Can’t do this to me baby.’

‘Just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here!’ Piper sung, parting through the two of them. Despite the small pang in his chest from the way Percy and Annabeth had been looking at each other, Nico found himself laughing a little.

They finished off the song with Leo looking like a rejected Oliver Twist. As soon as the last notes were over they all collapsed into laughter, even Nico who was trying hard to hide it but couldn’t quite manage.

“Oooh, good warm up everybody.” Leo cackled, “Very successful, I believe we all have the X Factor.”

“Who would have thought that oxen and whales went so well together?” Frank smiled.

Percy didn’t stop laughing to answer, giving him a high five instead.

“Hey Pipes, you’ve got a nice set of pipes on you.” Jason shamelessly punned.

Piper gave him an affectionate push, “Not so bad yourself Superman.”

“Can we just talk about that high note for a second? Annabeth shook her head, “If I didn’t know better, Leo I would accuse you of being able to sing.”

Leo snorted, “More like I can just make really girly noises.”

Hazel literally fell over and rolled.

“No, Hazel, feel free to laugh.” Leo rolled his eyes.

“The only one I didn’t hear was Nico.” Percy said as he wiped his eyes.

Suddenly six pairs of eyes were on him. Hazel was lost to the world.

“I uh…I’m quiet.” Nico blushed a little.

Piper pursed her lips, “Really? Cause I think if you let yourself go you’d be a great performer.”

Nico’s shoulders tensed, “What? No I wouldn’t.”

“I could see it.” Annabeth agreed, “You’ve got a very rock-star vibe about you.”

That was a first. Even around his friends Nico assumed he was emitting creepy death energy. Was she serious?

“Seriously?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Piper and Annabeth agreed.

“Wanna try a solo round?” Percy suggested.

“Absolutely not.” Nico stiffened.

“Fine.” Percy smirked, “Then I’ll go first.”

“Oh gods…” Annabeth groaned.

“This should be good.” Leo laughed.

Frank just shook his head and Jason looked like he was trying to figure out a way to plug his ears without being rude. Piper smiled like she was ready to meet the challenge and Hazel was finally beginning to calm down.

“Oh!” Percy exclaimed, “Perfect!”

He pressed play and the group was greeted by the opening chords of ‘Closing Time’ by Semi-sonic.

Surprisingly his whale voice lent itself well-ish to the wavering notes of the song. It didn’t sound too much someone was torturing marine life, but it was still by no means good. He’d been singing directly to Annabeth in a dramatic fashion similar to the group song and the poor girl was trying so hard not to laugh.

Nico didn’t resent her, he felt just a little sad but it wasn’t hard to ignore. He was getting over Percy slowly, and he was proud of his progress.

By the end of the song he managed to be just as unsettled as everyone else.

“Okay.” Leo breathed, “No offence but, all in favor of no more Percy solos, raise their hand.”

Every hand went up, even Percy’s. He laughed.

“Yeah, I’ll stick to killing things.”

“Thank you sweet baby Hestia.” Annabeth murmured.

“Alright, who’s up next? Please be someone good, I need a moment in between.” Leo asked.

“Why not you?” Jason grinned.

“Because I said someone good, Sparky.” Leo rolled his eyes as if to say, obviously.

“I’ll go.” Hazel spoke up.

“Thank you,” Leo grinned handing her the mike, “Please lead us from the Valle de la Muerte, oh mistress of song.”

Frank glared at him and Hazel shook her head.

“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” Percy muttered.

“You’re still pretty honey and that’s all that matters.” Annabeth laughed, kissing his forehead.

Hazel scrolled through the music until she squeaked, having found one she liked. Nico actually remembered her song from when he was younger. ‘Little Bitty Pretty One’ by Thurston Harris.

Her sweet, lilting, voice complemented the song well and she hit the notes perfectly. But what really made her fun to watch were the little off step snaps she did and the innocent smile on her face. Nico didn’t often get terribly emotional over people but right then he wanted to hug his sister and tell her how cute she was.

When her song finished she was greeted by a round of applause.

“Beautiful rendition, Miss Levesque.” Frank smiled at her as she sat down beside him.

“Thanks.” She smiled back.

“Alright, anyone brave enough to go after that?” Leo enquired. Evidently he’d taken it on himself to be the MC.

“Ow!” Jason objected, frowning at Piper. “Your elbows hurt.”

“Jason would.” Piper grinned at him.

“Then come on up.” Leo smirked.

Jason sat with an expression somewhere in between mildly annoyed and completely amused for a second the sighed and climbed to his feet.

“Alright, but you’re next Pipes.”

“I can handle that.” Piper smirked.

Percy ‘ooooh’ed like an elementary schooler, “Throwing down the gauntlet!”

Jason scrolled through the music until he found one that made a slow, evil, smile take over his face.

It didn’t register to any of them what was going on until the words started. And even then it took a good five seconds to react.

‘I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world…’

Percy was the first to go down, laughing so hard it looked painful. Then came Piper, then Leo, Annabeth and Hazel, and finally Frank and Nico. No one was immune to the sheer unexpectedness of it. Jason over acted every line, breaking out of his usual restrained controlled persona into something riotous. Nico couldn’t breathe and he was sure no one else could either. By then end he thought he’d died.

“Why?” Percy gasped like a fish out of water.

Jason shrugged, back to his usual calm state, “I figured no one would be expecting it.”

“You…were right…” Leo managed.

It took them at least five minutes after Jason’s little escapade to pull themselves together. There were still a few giggles whenever someone glanced at him, but for the most part they were alright.

“Alright, n-next up is Piper.” Leo stuttered as he tried to avoid looking at Jason.

Piper got to her feet in one graceful, sweeping movement and strode over to the iPod. It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for.

“Leo, your diverse taste in music both weirds me out and makes me happy.” She grinned.

“Uh, thanks?”

“Welcome.” She said and pressed play.

‘No sir, well I don’t want to be to blame, not anymore.’ Piper belted out the words to Paramour’s ‘That’s what you get’. She stomped up and down the little stage area like it was a concert, but she was still smiling as if it were just them. She even got them to join in at the chanting part towards the end. There was an energy about her that was fun and ferocious all at once, making her nearly impossible to look away from.

By the time the song ended Nico felt himself wanting her to do another. He shook it off and clapped with the others.

“Good job, Piper.” Annabeth grinned, hugging her.

“Thanks.” Piper laughed, “That was like stupidly fun.”

“Speaking of which,” Percy grinned at his girlfriend, “You haven’t gone yet, Wise Girl.”

“I am acutely aware of that, thank you so very much for mentioning it.” Annabeth smiled although her words held weight.

“What’s the matter, stage fright?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

He kissed her cheek, “I’ll go up with you if yo—”

“No.” Annabeth cut him off, grinning, “No, I’ll be fine.”

Percy folded his arms in a mock pout, “Fine if you say so. I’ll just sit here then and not comfort you.”

She rolled her eyes and shoved his face playfully, “Yes and I’m so broken up about it, can you see?”

She stood and walked over to the music device. She took much longer to select a song but when she did, Nico almost had to leave the room.

‘Heart beats fast, colors and promises…’

He didn’t leave, but he looked away as Annabeth sung ‘A Thousand Years’ towards Percy. It was probably nice and lovely and a million other good things, but Nico blocked it all out, blankly staring at a spot on the floor.

He clapped with the others when it was over but refrained from looking over at them.

“And then there were three.” Leo said with a vague air of menace.

“I vote Leo goes next.” Jason smiled, “All in favor?”

Every hand was raised.

“Okay,” Leo smiled, “You did this, not me.”

He scrolled quickly through the iPod, giving a little laugh as he pressed play.

The song opened with guitar and a guy with a Hispanic accent announcing where he was from. Then it degraded into a dance beat with mixed Spanish, English, and way too much bragging in both. It might’ve been funny if Leo hadn’t attempted to look sexy the entire time. Which is exactly what he did. Also Nico wanted to know what ‘Dolly’ meant in the context it was used.

At the end Nico felt the need to take a shower.

“Never again.” Annabeth said, shaking her head. “Never again.”

“I’m not even sorry.” Leo smirked, “Alright, Frank, Nico, one of you is up.”

Nico looked over at Frank. It was glaringly obvious that Frank wanted to go about as much as Nico did. So rather than simply staring until one of them got uncomfortable, Frank settled one fist on his other palm. Nico nodded and did the same.

Rock, paper, scissors. Nico chanted to himself.

He held back a grin as Frank’s paper was beaten by his scissors.

The big Chinese Canadian got to his feet with a small groan. It didn’t take him too terribly long to find a song and when he hit play, Nico was pleasantly surprised.

‘I’m coming out of my cage and I’ve been doing just fine…’

Frank shyly sung along to Mr. Brightside, only sounding like an ox on a few notes. He shifted nervously from one foot to the other and kept his eyes on the floor. Clearly he was ready to bolt the instant the song was over. Which in fact was exactly what he did.

“And so we come to our last contestant of the night.” Leo grinned.

Nico tried not to notice the seven pairs of eyes that excitedly watched him trudge up and onto the ‘stage’.

He shuffled through the play list and found a song he was decently sure he actually knew the words to. Taking a deep breath, he pressed play.

When he was younger, Nico used to sing a lot. He liked to, and it came pretty easy but the older he got the more shy he become until he hardly ever sang anymore. Regardless, he still remembered what it felt like, the little zone he slipped into when he got really into a song.

He closed his eyes as the opening chords of Tokio Hotel’s ‘Monsoon’ started to play. When he opened them again, he let everything else go and just focused on how it felt to sing.

‘I’m staring at a broken door, there’s nothing left here anymore.’ He felt his voice caress the notes as if they were long lost friends, ‘That room is cold, it’s making me insane.’

He let each word flow from him, paying no attention to his expression or his gestures. The sound of the low guitar was like purr in his ear and the drums replaced his heartbeat.

‘Running through the monsoon, beyond the world, to the end of time, where the rain won’t hurt. Fight in the storm, into the blue, and when I lose myself I think of you. Together we’ll be running somewhere new, through the monsoon. Just me and you.’ Nico crooned.

He’d begun to sway with the rhythm and he was staring out into the ‘audience’. He wasn’t looking anywhere in particular because his eyes weren’t focused. He was in his own world now.

‘Why can’t we make this darkness feel like home?’ His voice pitched low and sweet before coming up higher for the chorus.

‘Let it take me straight to you, I’ll be running night and day. I’ll be with you soon, just me and you, we’ll be there soon, so soon…’

Then the chorus kicked up in intensity and Nico was right there with it. He kept the notes sweet but got a slight edge to them as well that he’d always liked to do. It felt amazing to twist the notes into exactly the shape he wanted them to be. He was almost a little sad when the song ended.

That’s when he remembered where he was.

Nico looked out at the seven other demigods and they were all wearing identical expressions of shock and wonder.

Nico flushed up down to his neck and walked off stage.

“Uh, Nico.” Jason said, “Not for nothing, but that was kind of amazing.”

“Kind of?” Piper chimed in, “That was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen OR heard.”

Nico felt like melting into the wall. As much as he didn’t like people making fun of him, he liked complements even less.

“Uh, thanks.” He muttered.

“I for one vote we should enter him in Demigods Got Talent.” Leo grinned, “All in favor?”

Every hand went up.

Nico sighed. He was going to make plans to be at Camp Jupiter for a few days. He was done with these ridiculous, lovable, idiots.


End file.
